WayRay wins global automotive startup competition

WayRay made its way into this year's Top Ten after being selected out of over 300 applicants thanks to its innovative approach to user experience design. After making it to the Top Three alongside an impressive group of innovative startups from around the world, including Ohio-based GhostWave and Israel's Innoviz Technologies, ultimately WayRay was named this year's winner of the 2017 Top Ten Automotive Startups Competition. WayRay was awarded the competition's grand prize live on-stage following a grueling selection by the esteemed panel of judges, comprised of executives from the LA Auto Show executive team, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Porsche Consulting, Sansea Consulting, and Time Inc.'s The Drive.

$15,000 in Cash, coaching and business tools from Audi, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Porsche Consulting
As part of the grand prize package, WayRay received a live on-stage mentoring session at AutoMobility LA from tech luminaries including renowned Silicon Valley venture capitalist Bill Tai; President and CEO Porsche Consulting North America, Dr. Norman Firchau; and Microsoft Program Manager of Quantum Computing, Jeff Henshaw. The company was also awarded $15,000 in prize money to help further fund its business, along with a Microsoft BizSpark Plus membership consisting of $40,000 in Azure credits over two years, access to NVIDIA's annual GTC conference in Silicon Valley, consultancy from Elektrobit, Microsoft and Porsche Consulting, NVIDIA DRIVE™ PX 2 AI car computing platform and access to EB robinos open software framework.

Located in Lausanne, Switzerland, WayRay is the developer of holographic augmented reality technologies and next-generation user interfaces. The company's revolutionary holographic navigation systems present new opportunities for vehicle design and changing the way people can access information in their vehicles by focusing on using the windshield for the delivery of content and information.

"WayRay has stood out amongst some extremely distinguished competitors and we are very happy to announce them as the winner of our 2017 Top Ten Automotive Startups Competition," said LA Auto Show and AutoMobility LA President, Lisa Kaz. "It is extremely gratifying to know that AutoMobility LA's global competition can help promising startups advance in an ever-growing mobility sector."

All Top Ten Automotive Startups finalists were recognized at AutoMobility LA in front of 25,000 media and industry professionals including automakers, tech executives, designers, developers, investors, dealers, government officials, analysts, fellow startups and more. This year's Top Ten Startups included a broad spectrum of finalists representing autonomous vehicle software and management solutions, artificial intelligence developers, ridesharing software providers and electric vehicle charging tools, amongst others. In total, a prize equivalent of more than $200,000 was provided to this year's winners, including valuable business tools to help them advance the development of their organizations.

About the Los Angeles Auto Show and AutoMobility LA
Founded in 1907, the Los Angeles Auto Show (LA Auto Show) is the first major North American auto show of the season each year.  In 2016, the show's Press & Trade Days merged with the Connected Car Expo (CCE) to become AutoMobility LA, the industry's first trade show converging the technology and automotive industries to launch new products and technologies and to discuss the most pressing issues surrounding the future of transportation and mobility.  AutoMobility LA 2017 will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center Nov. 27-30, with manufacturer vehicle debuts intermixed.  LA Auto Show 2017 will be open to the public Dec. 1-10. 

(Press release)